Biodiesel production in Navi Mumbai, India

We were in a position to celebrate this major step forward together with our guests of honour and friends after just three years of planning and 10 months’ construction work. We take the used cooking oil we ourselves collect to produce high-grade biodiesel in – and, above all, for – India.

We remain true to our motto:
“From waste to energy” – Münzer Bioindustrie

Press release

Styrian biodiesel pioneer opens production facility in Mumbai

Styrian family-owned company MÜNZER is launching a facility for waste-based biodiesel production in Mumbai through its local subsidiary Münzer Bharat Pvt. Ltd.

Sinabelkirchen/Mumbai, 13 February 2019 “The difference between what we do and what we could do would solve our problems. That is to say, the difference between talking about it and actually doing it. Well, we did it, and have taken the biggest step on the international stage in the history of our family business. Our Indian subsidiary, Münzer Bharat Pvt. Ltd., is opening its own biodiesel production facility in Mumbai. This marks our first venture outside of Europe since the company was founded back in 1991. And we are launching in what is the world's second largest economy,” comments Michael Münzer, Managing Partner of Münzer Bioindustrie GmbH together with his brother Ewald-Marco Münzer.

Münzer Bharat (Münzer India) was founded in Mumbai in September 2016 with the mission to collect used cooking oil and refine it into biodiesel. “We are often asked: why India? The question is easy to answer: We were invited by the Indian government to help the country solve one of its major problems, namely the incorrect disposal and handling of used cooking oil,” adds Ewald-Marco Münzer. Like Europe, India is faced with the problem of reducing its dependence on fossil fuel imports and controlling greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, the country’s waste problem – especially in relation to liquid waste – has reached dramatic proportions. “We offer solutions for both those problems from a single source. Used cooking oil – which had to date been poured down the drains, clogging up the sewage system – is disposed of professionally, and subsequently turned into a high-grade raw material for biodiesel production. It in turn is making a significant contribution to the decarbonisation of the transport sector. And it's a ‘made in India; solution,” Ewald-Marco Münzer continues.

“And there’s another country-specific aspect: India is a world leader in recycling. Everything is reused, including used cooking oil. But not for energy production. In most cases this waste ends up back in the food cycle, and so on people’s plates. Yet there is very little awareness of the health risks this entails,” Michael Münzer adds.

Münzer Bharat Pvt. Ltd. currently serves more than 400 partner businesses in the catering, hotel and food processing industries in Mumbai. The used cooking oil collected is treated at the production plant in Navi Mumbai and processed into biodiesel. The current production capacity is 10,000 litres per day.

“The next steps are already on the way. We are planning to expand our activities into neighbouring cities such as Pune and Thane. The key step has been taken, now we have to prove ourselves in a country of more than 1.3 billion people,” says Michael Münzer. “We have a great local team and, together with our team in Austria, we are very well set for the future.”

Münzer Bioindustrie GmbH is an owner-managed family business based in Sinabelkirchen, in the Austrian province of Styria. The company is one of the largest collectors of liquid waste in Central Europe, and also operates an Austria-wide collection system for used cooking oil. It produces more than 206,000 tonnes of waste-based biodiesel annually at its two plants in Vienna's Lobau oil terminal and in Gaishorn am See in Styria. That makes Münzer one of the largest producers of waste-based biodiesel in Europe.

Contact for refer-backs:
Mag. Harald Sigl
Corporate Communications & Public Affairs

M: +43 664 82 67 903
T: +43 1 2800 213 100

E: harald.sigl@muenzer.at
W: www.muenzer.at

Ölhafen Lobau – Uferstraße 12, A-1220 Vienna, Austria